Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve has given the world a stark preview of the 2012 Tim, and from the looks of it, it's not going to be pretty for the Evil Empire.

The Peace Bike will be 8 years old in 2012, and it still coasts along. Today I took the Peace Bike to downtown Cincinnati again, and on the way back, we showed the Far Right who's boss.

There's a path for pedestrians and bicyclists running from Pete Rose Way to 3rd, across from the Purple People Bridge. The path was fine on the way into town today, but on the way back, I found it blocked by an unusually wide and tall traffic cone. This wouldn't have been a huge deal, except that the closure of this path would require cyclists to detour all the way to Eggleston Avenue.

So I just kicked down the cone and plowed right on through.

The other end of the path presented an even greater obstacle. Not only were there oddly shaped traffic cones, but the path was completely blocked with yellow tape. So the Peace Bike just broke right through the tape and left it dangling from the toppled cones.

The attempt to permanently close this much-needed path was almost certainly driven by classism. There's no question in my mind about that. Why else would they close it except to keep us masses from marauding into Lytle Park? So I took it upon myself to reopen the path. Fair is fair.

Incidentally, I just checked the county property map, and I've confirmed that the path is indeed public property. So the Evil Empire loses again.

I've been following the saga of the National Defense Authorization Act of late. This is the bill that President Obama threatened to veto unless Congress removed some unconstitutional provisions that would have gutted habeas corpus and allowed American citizens to be detained indefinitely without a trial.

Congress toned down the bill, but the end product was still alarmingly bad. Today, Obama signed the somewhat weakened bill and issued a lengthy signing statement vowing not to use the new law to detain Americans. Not like that'll do any good if some absolute nutcase becomes President.

Who in Congress decided to add Constitution-shredding provisions to what was otherwise a routine bill? I doubt these sections would have been signed into law if they weren't part of an important authorization bill that was otherwise unrelated. In other words, Congress exploited a must-pass bill.

The addition of these provisions really means that Congress has thrown its hands up in defeat. They know their approval ratings are in the johndola, and that they have no leg to stand on to go after dissidents, so - in frustration - they trot out laws that are blatantly unconstitutional and don't care what anybody thinks. The unconstitutional and unenforceable portions of the NDAA are a sign of sheer desperation.

Not for the first time, an Occupy event has been physically attacked by right-wing thugs who oppose its message.

Early this morning in New Haven, Connecticut, an Occupy encampment was attacked by a group of gun-toting men. The assailants stampeded through the campsite and began kicking the tents where protesters were asleep. One of the men pointed his gun at a protester.

I don't know of this story receiving any coverage outside Connecticut. Almost every news outlet in the land endlessly rehashes stories that might reflect negatively on Occupy supporters, but a story that reflects poorly on Occupy opponents is completely swept under the rug in 49 states.

Telcom giant Verizon recently announced plans to charge cell phone customers an extra $2 fee every time they made a payment using any method that was invented after 1850.

I wondered to myself why the states or the federal government allowed this price-gouging, but now it looks like that's moot. The resulting public outcry was so deafening that Verizon has now backed down.

Chalk up another victory for the still-growing Occupy campaign. It was the Occupy movement that heightened awareness of this example of Verizon greed and allowed the story to reach more of the public. What's amazing is how effective this public uproar was. Some 10 or 15 years ago, Verizon's proposal would have largely been met with absolute, utter silence while the government rubber-stamped it.

I'm sensitive about things being wasted or needlessly thrown in the dumpster. I come from a working-class background, and I've lived a lean existence. So I cringed when wealthy schoolmates wasted perfectly good items like paper.

You hear a lot about compulsive hoarding, but compulsive wasting is a problem too. To compete with Hoarders, I've come up with a schnazzy idea for a TV show...

Monday, December 26, 2011

Congress has the money to pay for the illegal Iraq War, bailouts for big banks, and D.C.'s unconstitutional school voucher program - but it doesn't have any for legal aid?

The Tea Party-dominated House is once again grinning its shit-eating smirk so broadly that you'll have a good mind to kick its teeth down its throat. Now they've slashed funding to valuable legal aid services - aid that has helped countless working-class Americans fight illegal evictions, foreclosures, and other assaults. The House is cutting the budget for the Legal Services Corporation by almost 15%. This after previous cuts have already forced legal aid organizations to turn away perhaps a majority of eligible clients.

Congress can complain that they had to cut legal aid to stay within its means, but I'm not buying it. If you can afford to spend trillions on the war, you can afford to fund legal aid. End of story.

I know that historically it's made sense for the House to be in charge of budgeting and raising revenue, but the House has proven it doesn't know how to budget. Since 1995, the House has usually been even more irresponsible than the Senate at this and every other task. When we have mob rule by the richest 1%, that's the result.

If this is allowed to continue, I think we may have to take a serious look at amending the Constitution to crimp the House's limitless budgeting powers. Why should the worse chamber of the worst branch of government hold the sole power to budget? Deciding how to spend the people's money should be the realm of a body that truly represents the people. When was the last time you felt you had decent representation in Congress?

Thursday, December 22, 2011

The year is almost over, and while 2011 started on an ominous note, it now appears as if the Evil Empire's ship has sailed for good. (Keep your fingers crossed.)

This year has been full of idiotic right-wing ideas, but I just stumbled upon what may be the most bippus-bustingly bad idea of them all. I don't remember hearing anything about it at the time, but it turns out that several months ago, right-wing members of Congress fired one of the most noxious missiles in their war on workers that I've seen in ages.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Well, a new report by the Census Bureau shows that the District of Columbia is the fastest growing state between April 2010 and July 2011 - although it's not officially a state. The nation's capital boasts a 2.7% population increase.

This illustrates several important points. First, it bolsters our view that D.C. should be made the 51st state. Pronto. Even before this report, D.C. already had more people than some states.

Second, it's another sign of the back-to-the-cities trend. Let's face it: People no longer want to live in exurbs that are 40 miles out of town. I can't think of anything in the exurbs that would attract anybody who wants to live freely.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

My writings have long been critical of a Kentucky law that passed in the 2000s that allows anybody (young and old alike) to be placed in a drug treatment facility without due process just because of somebody else's say-so. The only other state I know of that has this widely abused, unconstitutional law is Florida.

Now Ohio may follow suit.

Republicans in Ohio recently introduced a bill like this modeled on the Kentucky law. Outrageously, it passed the Ohio Senate unanimously. (What's this again about a two-party system?)

The bill's present whereabouts are unclear, but it apparently went to the Ohio House.

The NDAA is bad, but we need to fight this just as much. For all the fear of innocent people being held without charge under the NDAA, it's much more likely that they'd be "disappeared" under the type of bill Ohio is trying to pass. If it passes, you can be 100% drug-free and still be locked in an abusive "rehab." It's happened to teenagers because of phony programs like Kids Helping Kids, and under these laws, it can happen to anybody. Especially because corrupt judges take kickbacks from abusive programs.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

The 2012 electoral cycle may be make or break, folks. I feel mighty good about it, since the Occupy campaign continues to grow. But if you're still not clued in to these voices of reason, let me warn you of what looms if America elects the wrong clown.

Through most of my lifetime, in intervals of roughly 6 to 8 years, the United States experiences a revolution of sorts. Not a good revolution, but a fascist one. Each time, the Far Right tightens the vise of oppression and decimates more of our natural rights. They bring economic ruin, attacks on civil liberties, and more ideological allies to fill our judicial posts and gunk up the works for decades to come.

We may seem immunized for 2012 because of 2010's Tea Party jailbreak, but it's important to keep our guard up at all times. And there is no question whatsoever that America WOULD NOT survive a Newt Gingrich presidency. This is not hyperbole. This is a demonstrable fact.

The Establishment has masturbated at the prospect of a Gingrich White House for years. They want this more than anything in the world. This is their Holy Grail. With Gingrich at the helm, everything else comes easy to them.

Worst of all, it'll be on our backs. If your memory goes back further than 1999, you know Newt is mean. And evil. Evil to the very core. I'm not talking about somebody who's merely misguided. Newt Gingrich sets out to do people harm. He hurts people and he enjoys it.

If Newt is allowed to set foot in the Oval Office, that's it. It's over. America won't survive it. And it's not happening on my watch. When we used to sit on our hands, we lost. But the Occupy movement is about action. I do not think for one minute that Occupiers will allow one of the worst American politicians of modern times to go anywhere near the White House.

It's befuddling what lengths The Media will go to in order to distort or cover up facts and manipulate public opinion. As yet another example of this, the pop-up press finds it convenient to forget the food shortages that plagued America in the '90s largely because of George H.W. Bush's incompetence at dealing with a recession while he padded his corrupt cronies' coffers.

But The Media actually used to occasionally report what it now forgets. If you look at scattered articles from the era, you'll find reports of grocery freezers sitting empty, the prices of food soaring, and sellers having to ration items.

News articles reveal that prices of cereal and lettuce were artificially jacked up by collusion in the industry. Producers of other goods stockpiled their products to inflate the costs to consumers. But I don't remember anyone in the government doing anything about it - probably because Congress thought their pet bills like the Solomon Amendment were more important.

In almost any other country in the world, if you saw the level of inflation that America had 20 years ago, the government would issue price caps. But our so-called public officials cried that was "communism!" None dared to refer to our economic gatekeepers' activities as greed.

Next time one of the 1-percenters accuses you of not being able to make it under capitalism, remember that this is what capitalism is all about. Capitalism is for the 1% - not you.

Friday, December 16, 2011

The late Mr. James was well-known in my day as the host of the nighttime version of The Price Is Right. Lots of people feared this legendary TV personality because of the way he appeared to jump out of the screen. I've seen clips of him on YouTube, and his excitability reminds me a little bit of how strange Gatewood Galbraith has been acting lately. By that, I don't mean ol' Gatewood back in the days when he was sane. I mean the way he acts now, when he seems to exist only to agree with everything David Williams says.

(Somebody else told me Galbraith looks like a guy who used to appear in old Godfather's Pizza commercials. It's true! I found those ads on YouTube, and Gatewood Galbraith looks exactly like that guy!)

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Even today, America is still fighting against unabated bigotry. The fight against the Far Right isn't just on purely economic grounds. It's also a fight against discrimination.

Recently, the owner of a Cincinnati apartment building posted a "White Only" sign at the building's swimming pool. I have no doubt whatsoever that her intent was racist, because what else could the sign possibly mean? The Ohio Civil Rights Commission agreed that it was racist, and found that she violated a statewide anti-discrimination law. Now the building owner is demanding that the commission reconsider.

This story is about not only bigotry but also the misuse of power embodied by somebody thinking they can get away with something just because. The building is in effect a business, and it violated individual rights by posting the sign. The rights of the people are the glue that holds our system together. But there's no right for any person or business to discriminate in violation of the law.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

When you see stories like this, you know there's lots of hope for today's young adults - unlike in my generation, when many of my contemporaries were brainwashed into thinking Ronald Reagan was their grandpa.

Walgreen's has a policy at all its drugstores nationwide that prohibits customers from buying cold and allergy drugs that contain pseudoephedrine if they're from out of state. This policy is probably illegal, and it certainly is fascist.

So who's up for an Occupy Walgreen's protest? Students at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma, are planning a demonstration against the embattled pharmacy chain. Even the college president has approached Walgreen's in an effort to make it change its ways, but Walgreen's hasn't budged yet. Now he's teamed up with the school's NAACP chapter in organizing the rally, which will take place outside a Walgreen's in Muskogee.

This issue is of particular interest to college students because many live out of state and don't have an in-state ID. It's also of interest to anybody else who cares about liberty or crimping corporate power.

+ Can we finally put this issue to rest now? Yesterday, voters in Wellington, Kansas, faced a citywide referendumb on whether a prescription would be required for over-the-counter allergy drugs. This drug warrior measure was as idiotic as you might imagine. Well, it got defeated 74% to 26%.

+ After 2 aides to Maryland's right-wing former Gov. Bob Ehrlich were indicted in June for racially motivated phone calls to suppress the vote, now the verdict for one of the aides is in: GUILTY! The robocalls had gone out to countless voters telling them to "relax" because the election was already over - even though it wasn't. One of the aides was convicted yesterday on all 4 counts related to the deceptive robocalls. Unbelievably, he tried saying his attempt at election fraud was protected by the First Amendment. There's a word for that: stupid!

+ The TSA is at it again. This time, the TSA accused a teenage girl on a flight from Norfolk to Jacksonville of committing a federal offense because her purse had the design of a small Wild West-style gun on it. As a result of the TSA's panic, the girl missed her flight. Jeez, the TSA still keeps getting dumber by the day, don't it?

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Remember a few years ago when the Maryland Police State Police infiltrated protests in that state? That was a national scandal.

But police in Los Angeles didn't learn from the humiliation that befell law enforcement because of that campaign. Now it's been revealed that cops in L.A. used about a dozen undercover police detectives to infiltrate the Occupy encampment there to gather "intelligence" about what protesters planned to do.

Valuable police resources - wasted.

Didn't the Maryland scandal establish that this type of surveillance is illegal?

Monday, December 5, 2011

In West Bend, Wisconsin, a 30-year-old man has been arrested for defacing the recall petitions like a big baby. He walked up to a signature gatherer and scribbled all over the petitions. The charge is a felony. It would serve Walker right if he loses the recall election by one vote all because the suspect loses his right to vote for being convicted of a felony.

And in Chippewa Falls, a 68-year-old woman was arrested for tearing up a sign posted by recall supporters. Sort of like when some Nazi tore up the "George Bush, bite my tush" sign at Devou Park. The difference here is that the Devou Park thug is still on the loose after 11 years, because he wasn't arrested on the spot like he should have been.

Issues, fads, and technology may change over the years, but one thing remains the same: The Evil Empire can dish it out but can't take it.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

I waltzed down to Occupy Cincinnati again yesterday, because they were hankerin' to conduct an amazing march through the neighborhood, in which they would pick up garbage and beautify the city. I brang a couple trash bags and donned rubber gloves - joining about 50 other folks in this endeavor.

I'm reporting on this event here because the pop-up media won't. As far as I can tell, The Media has completely ignored this beautification march. They report every negative story about the Occupy movement they can get their paws on (including stories that are completely made up) - but when we do something positive that turns out to be a success, there's not a word of coverage. Nothing.

We collected dozens of bags full of rubbish. We picked up broken CD's, soft drink cans, gobs of Frisch's Big Boy wrappers, and enough chewed bubble gum to blow a bubble the size of Newt Gingrich's head. I even found a couple pencils and a small amount of coinage! This went on for a couple hours.

This also lays hulk to the Far Right's laughable claim that Occupiers don't do any work. Yesterday, I met the hardest-working group of peeps I'd seen in recent memory. Contrast this with some of my old schoolmates, who were so damn lazy that I'd be surprised if they made the effort of moving their arms into a position to open a garbage bag. (Then again, they'd love finding all that old gum, so maybe it'd be worth it to them.)

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Remember last week when The Media accused a young woman of lying about having a miscarriage after being assaulted by police at Occupy Seattle? In addition, the right-wing spambots who flood website comment sections said the woman should be charged with child endangerment for "allowing" herself to be attacked. Seriously, they said that - even while they accused her of making the whole thing up.

Well, now she's released her medical records that confirm that she did indeed have a miscarriage. She was under no obligation to release them, because they are private. But she did release them - which confirms her side of the story.

Despite this, The Media has not retracted its accusations against her.

With the months-old Occupy movement still expanding, you'd think The Media would be prodded into investigating Wall Street and America's yawning chasm between the rich and poor. Instead, The Media sees an opportunity to launch smear campaigns against pregnant women, impoverished war vets, and others. These campaigns never prove that a person lied about their story, but they attempt to discredit them by suggesting they did. When the person proves they were telling the truth, The Media never corrects themselves.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

It's bad enough for cities to close down public parks every night - a rule that was designed to be selectively enforced. But now they're singling out Occupy protesters by banning them from parks the rest of the time too.

In Portland, Maine, individual participants in Occupy Maine are now being banned from Lincoln Park even when the park is open - under threat of being charged with trespassing. The police-imposed bans are in force for up to a year.

I shouldn't even have to be saying this, but how can one be guilty of trespassing on public property - especially when the park is open? Did NKU take over the Portland Police when nobody was looking?

Monday, November 28, 2011

Newt Gingrich's worshipers always did have a soft spot for the dictatorship in Singapore - that was one of the main inspirations for the fascist Contract With America - but you'd think it would just elicit laughs in 2011.

Gingrich said Singapore's policy of flogging small-time lawbreakers and executing people found guilty of minor drug offenses is a good role model for America. "They've been very draconian," he said. He intended that as a compliment, not a criticism.

Then move there, Newt.

This is reminiscent of the right-wing letter-writing campaigns in the '90s praising the Singaporean government. This promenade was supported by people who hated America and hated freedom. Sort of like Newt does. Real patriots would have stood up for red, white, and blue. These whiners didn't.

A few days ago, somebody told me that Republican presidential frontrunner Newt Gingrich sounds like exactly the sort of clod who'd advocate the latest Freeper cause du jour: forcing welfare recipients to take a drug test even without probable cause. I said it's almost certain he'd express support for this idea sometime before next November. Newt is known for ideas that bad.

But we didn't even have to wait nearly that long, since now he's on it already. Never mind that it was already ruled unconstitutional years ago.

When somebody asked Gingrich how to reform the disastrous War on Drugs, he said we should expand this failed prohibition campaign by instituting drug tests - not just for welfare recipients but also anybody else who gets government aid, including veterans' benefits and Social Security. "Unemployment compensation, food stamps, you name it," he said.

Surprised? I'm not. This is the man who ushered in the failed welfare "reform" measures of the '90s - which have led to the deaths of countless Americans. Newt Gingrich is also the asshole who hired a Nazi as House historian. And he advocated placing kids in orphanages just because of their parents' marital status. Nothing is too extreme for ol' Newt. Still, The Media has fawned over him for years. Much as they heaped praise upon his orphanage proposal, they've been grooming him to become President ever since he left Congress. Since then, the TV pundits have always had him on as a guest every time there's some major story he has nothing to do with.

If you want to go after welfare, go after the budget-busting Bush tax cuts. The Bush tax cuts are the new welfare. Unlike the old welfare, however, it's not for the poor but for the rich.

And - even if Super Congress wasn't unconstitutional - Super Congress was destined to fail at its stated mission to rein in the deficit, because it was completely unwilling to look at ending the Bush handouts for the wealthy. This form of welfare was effectively exempt from cuts - and it still is even with the committee's failure.

(This is not to be confused with Bush's phony tax "rebates" that excluded the poorest Americans. Outrageously, an amendment added to one of the "rebate" bills by the disgraced John Ensign made it so overseas military personnel also didn't get any payment.)

Newt Gingrich is not only evil. He's such a joke that he doesn't even understand how limited the appeal of his ideas is. He thinks attacking the poor appeals to workers. But the poor are workers. That's why they're called the working poor. Drug-testing of welfare recipients without reasonable suspicion appeals primarily to the dwindling Republican base that thrives on meanness and class warfare. Anybody else who may have once thought the idea looked good on paper has abandoned it now that there's been enough time to debate it thoroughly.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Many of you have heard of a recipe called Ronald Reagan's favorite macaroni and cheese. Ol' Rappin' Ronnie always devoured a plate full of it on his birthday. But the former leader of the free (?) world was no ordinary guy. He actually bore a title of nobility after Britain knighted him. So there's no way he'd settle for the culinary delight I invented.

I call it Ronald Reagan's least favorite macaroni and cheese. You'll love it, because it's tasty and it saves money. But Sir Ronnie would likely have nothing to do with it...

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Imagine if you can the uproar that would result if this story was about the poor trying to keep the rich out of their town - instead of the other way around.

In Paducah, Kentucky, right-wing activists are circulating a petition to keep a homeless shelter out of their city. One woman said of the proposed shelter, "You don't feel safe with all kinds of creatures around."

"Creatures"??? Did Andre Bauer make that statement using a pseudonym???

Strange. We never get a choice when some developer wants to build an upscale subdivision or luxury high-rise in our community - even though we have reasons to oppose these projects that have nothing to do with class warfare. These developments often damage the environment or the economy, yet they get rubber-stamped. But look at all the red tape and right-wing petitions that materialize if somebody wants to build a homeless shelter. In fact, the law has to be changed just to build it: Laws in Paducah don't currently allow homeless shelters - but I bet you they allow wealthy subdivisions.

It's kind of like what's going on now in some suburban townships just outside Cincinnati. Rich residents are trying to keep Section 8 housing away, and Hamilton County even refused to obey an official order that gave the green light to the new homes. But I don't remember poor neighborhoods within the city being able to do anything about upscale developments that often displaced them.

The news in Paducah though isn't all bad. After reading about the homeless being called "creatures", some folks there plan to circulate a petition that would allow the shelter instead of forbid it.

During last week's police riot against Occupy Seattle - the same raid that yielded damning photos of the police pepper-spraying an 84-year-old woman - a 19-year-old pregnant woman was also pepper-sprayed and kicked in the stomach by cops.

The young woman was hospitalized, and now she has miscarried as a result of the police action.

Now right-wing talk stations in Seattle are accusing her of making it up because she hasn't released her PRIVATE medical records regarding the incident.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Imagine if you can what the reaction would be if a supporter of the Occupy movement attacked a journalist or any other observer. But when an Occupy opponent attacks somebody, you're hard-pressed to find anything about it.

On Saturday night, the Occupy Pensacola gathering in front of Pensacola City Hall was confronted by a young man. The man drunkenly threatened Occupiers. Then he charged at a photojournalist who was covering the event. During the attack, the reporter's glasses were broken. The attack on the reporter was completely unprovoked.

Congress has been working on a bipartisan bill known in the Senate as the PROTECT IP Act and in the House as SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). Regardless of what the intent of the bill is, the result could be devastating (though I suspect Republican sponsors knew that but just won't admit it).

The stated goal of the bill is to crack down on online piracy. But if enacted, it would do much more. Not only would it gut the DMCA's provision that requires copyright holders to go through the process of submitting notices of infringement to allegedly offending websites, but it would also allow the Attorney General to prohibit search engines from linking to certain sites. It would even force credit card companies to stop doing business with blackballed sites - regardless of whether the sites were proven to be violating anybody's copyright.

Another result of the bill would be that open source software projects could be shut down. Social networking sites could even be closed. The bill is so broad that YouTube and Flickr would likely be closed too. And it would prevent Americans from ordering cheaper medications from Canada.

But after being exposed by Occupy websites and events, this Internet blacklisting bill became the subject of negative correspondence to Congress. Now the bill is likely dead. Nancy Pelosi spoke out against it, and even Darrell Issa says it now has "no chance of passage."

If Occupiers killed this bill - which they likely did - this isn't the first Occupy win. Last month, when the movement was only a month old, Occupiers got big banks to drop their plans to institute a fee for using a debit card. The banks' greedy proposal was wrapped in classism, as it wouldn't have applied to regular credit cards.

At the polling booth this month, the Occupy movement clearly fueled a trend back towards representative populism. Plus, Occupiers succeeded at delaying and possibly preventing approval of TransCanada's economically and ecologically disastrous Keystone XL pipeline in the Midwest. (TransCanada tried using eminent domain to build it, even though it's a corporation, not a government body. Also, the pipeline would have benefited the zillionaire Koch brothers, who have helped bankroll the Tea Party and other right-wing causes.)

With Occupiers turning everything they touch into a thrilling victory, what delightful surprises are next?

Sunday, November 20, 2011

To the surprise of nobody who reads this blog, the Occupy protests have been met with a drumbeat of hostile media coverage. Without exception, however, each photo or video that purports to show some serious criminal activity or bigotry by Occupiers has turned out to either be a hoax or has failed to show what the item's purveyors claim. (Occupy critics even changed the location of one damning photo. They couldn't make up their minds whether they took the photo in Los Angeles or Dallas.)

I don't cover all these lies here, because that just lets the Far Right set the parameters of the debate. Our aim is to expose wealth disparity and corporate power - not to answer every right-wing smear against others who expose it.

Now - again to nobody's surprise - it turns out that the right-wing smear pipeline that has gushed against Occupiers is bankrolled by exclusive lobbying firms. A memo has been leaked proving this. (I usually don't link to NBC pages, due to NBC's infamously poor edit of a Michelle Obama speech in 2008, but this is an exception.)

The memo was from Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, a lobbying firm for the financial services industry. This firm has funded an $850,000 media campaign to try to discredit the Occupy movement and any political figure who dares to support it. This campaign also involves "research" against Occupiers.

Well, now we know who's behind all the anti-Occupy stories. Not like it's doing Wall Street any good, because every time I go to Occupy Cincinnati, there's always new faces there. (And I'm not counting the cops who arrested one of the Occupiers last week for the "crime" of photographing an undercover police car.) The only thing that's too big to fail may be the Occupy movement.

Gandhi has been quoted as saying, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." So things seem to be going right on cue. It's exactly what happened when we took on the Pathway Family Center cult.

Friday, November 18, 2011

This 'LCQ' episode has absolutely nothing to do with politics or the Occupy movement that numerous authoritarian mayors and The Media despise with such vitriol. Rather, Tim celebrates the 23rd anniversary of the pivotal Plop Lecture...

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

What sort of down-home, hard-working American doesn't fear the Red menace as the greatest threat to all of humanity? Well, apparently not as many as who view Congress just as unfavorably.

A Rasmussen poll says only 11% of Americans would support the United States becoming a communist country. But a CBS/New York Times poll gives Congress an approval rating of only...9%.

Gee, Geoff Davis, how does it feel to be less popular than the Communist Party? Should it be surprising? In essence, Congress has privatized communism by awarding unfettered power to Big Business. What's the difference between a one-party state and a corporate monopoly?

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Is there any end at all to what The Media will try to make us believe?

The website of KNTV-TV in San Francisco - an NBC-owned station - sounds like it's trying to compete with Free Republic. A headline on the site blares, "Berkeley to Consider Condemning OBL Raid." No, the city of Berkeley is not considering condemning the raid.

The article says Berkeley is talking about "whether to condemn the killing of Osama Bin Laden." No, Berkeley is not talking about whether to condemn killing him.

The resolution would condemn intelligence officials who gave bin Laden the code name "Geronimo." The measure doesn't condemn the actual raid. It only condemns the code name. The resolution was prompted by the fact that the code name insults the memory of Apache leader Geronimo.

In other words, KNTV completely distorted the facts.

Look, even I'm not condemning the raid itself. I know the other side seems to live in a funhouse mirror world in which they think I would, but this make-believe land of theirs is a lie they've created. On the other hand, some right-wingers actually did condemn the raid right after it occurred. So the right-wing intelligentsia loses the argument. Again.

Monday, November 14, 2011

The Media is generating much rumpus about the Occupy protests allegedly spreading "Zuccotti lung", which appears to be a relatively mild flu-like ailment resulting from people gathering in close quarters. For instance, a contributor to Yahoo! (a company that turns in journalists to the Chinese government) has written a right-wing commentary blasting Occupiers for this condition. But they don't raise a peep about the unclean practices that pervade our schools that cause more severe illnesses that recur for years.

When I was in high school, I came down with what I believe to be dengue fever - which I suspect was from the conditions at school. My school seemed to have made itself into a diorama of a Third World dictatorship with all the tyranny and disease that goes with it. It seemed like I was sick half the time I went to this school, and nobody did shit about it.

This goes on at lots of schools, and I just don't understand why people put up with it. That remains a mystery.

If Occupy camps spread as much disease as most American schools today do, they'd be shut down by the health department instantly. The fact that they haven't proves they're mighty clean in comparison. I suspect "Zuccotti lung" is just The Media's name for finding a booger in your nose. If it's anything more than that, it's partly - though not entirely - the cities' fault for not always providing proper sanitation at their parks. For example, I remember a few months ago noticing that the restrooms at Fountain Square were locked even though it was the middle of the day. Are people supposed to shit in the hallway of the Fifth Third building?

That said, we can all practice common sense when we attend an Occupy event, and I don't know anybody in the movement who would encourage anything to spread germs. With the examples that were set for us in school, it's a wonder we're as sanitary as we are.

What goes on in our schools borders on germ warfare. Nay, I think we can accurately say it IS germ warfare. I don't see how the level of disease filling our schools can be accomplished by accident. In fact, in the mid-'90s, a major corporation that sold cold "remedies" paid the Cincinnati school system to put several of its schools on a year-round calendar. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say they intentionally created a biohazard just to sell more product.

The Media has no business lecturing the Occupy movement about spreading illness while schools' germ warfare is swept under the rug.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

As the Occupy movement continues to grow, the Evil Empire that tries to suppress it is making themselves sound dumber than ever, and all you can hear is us laughing at them. And of course they've resorted to THREATS - the weapon of the schoolyard brat who throws tantrums when things don't go as planned. Even more predictably, Facebook is the venue they're using.

Like when I defended Occupy Portland (Oregon). After I defended Occupy Portland from Nazis who are circulating a petition to have it shut down, some right-wing loudmouth threatened me with his "freedom tool kit" that "goes bang and travels at 1200 fps."

Lately, some loon has been spamming Occupy Cincinnati's Facebook page with right-wing rants that attack the movement and pontificate about how it's legal for people to print their own money. I responded, "So what's the point of your idiotic babble?"

His reply to my post:

"That people have a right to trade , use IOU's , print money , produce goods and they don't owe you a thing . Not a tarrif [sic] on their trade or a cut of their money or a meal . You have a life too you could spend producing if you like food too . And that you are going to get your ass whooped ."

Royal. At least he didn't deny that he was spewing "idiotic babble."

Now the dumb losers of conservaworld are threatening to steal Occupiers' belongings from raided camps.

I went to the Occupy Cincinnati march today that dealt with the ravages of student debt. We had about 100 marchers, and it was a smashing success, as it wrapped around downtown - from Piatt Park to Fountain Square to Paul Brown Stadium to City Hall.

When we were on 2nd Street between Race and Elm overlooking the stadium though, we saw yet another assault against the Occupy movement.

As we were marching west on the south sidewalk of the street, a gang of young men was walking east. At first, I thought they were just drunken sports fans with no political interests, as all they did initially was flick our signs with their fingers and such. But then, when I thought they were gone, I heard them yelling behind us. I looked back and noticed one of them was removing his shirt as if he was about to fight. The enraged maniac charged towards us with his fists clenched.

I figured I had to try to defend myself and the other Occupiers against this criminal, so I starting heading towards him. He and his accomplices continued yelling at us and doubling up their fists. I was at the point where I was ready to defend myself, but about 5 other Occupiers got in the middle and broke us up. The assailants are damn lucky that happened, because if it hadn't, they'd be spitting teeth right now.

I'm all for nonviolence. But these guys were clearly threatening. I couldn't just stand idly by and allow myself and the other Occupiers to be knocked into next week. You don't know how close we came to a full-on brawl that would have resulted in serious injuries. Like I said, a commitment to nonviolence is a good thing, but there's a fine line between nonviolence and letting yourself be made into a ceiling ornament for the Cincinnati Transit Center. Then again, I'm not claiming to speak for Occupy Cincinnati. Feel free to ask some of the other marchers for their perspective. Unlike the Tea Party, I don't expect people to just take my word unquestioningly.

I called 911. Police did not arrive.

Incidentally, it appears as if an assault was committed, even if nobody actually took a swing. I've heard of people being charged with assault for much less than what the thugs today did.

Now I'm told that what really set off the assailants was when one of the marchers yelled, "Justice!" Right-wing idiots get mad at weird things.

In any event, today's incident was started entirely by those who wanted to fight us. They started it with their own actions. Period.

Meanwhile, the Occupy Cincinnati protest has now been going on 24/7 for over a month. We're not going away.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Clark Durant is a GOP candidate for Senate in Michigan. His list of backers reads like a Who's Who of Michigan far-rightists, as he wins support from Betsy DeVos, Spencer Abraham, and the usual suspects.

While speaking to a College Conservatives group, Duran Durant attacked the Occupy movement and said America's wealth gap should be even worse than it is. "I think it should be wider," he declared point-blank.

That showed 'em! It showed 'em what the Republicans really think. They're not even pretending to care about the poor or the middle class.

As Occupiers continue to gain support despite official suppression and hostile media coverage, the Republicans are sneering in America's face. I'm reminded of the wealthy TV executive in 'UHF'. Letting the mask slip like this isn't how you win elections. So I hope the Republicans keep doing it - unless of course the GOP has become such a cult that people are willing to follow them no matter how much harm they face from the party's own stated policies.

Clark Durant is also a charter school executive - which kind of pokes holes in the Far Right's claims that "liberals" run the schools.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

You didn't expect the election to be a total sweep, did you? Places like Warsaw, Indiana, have yet to emerge from 2002.

Warsaw is in the most Republican county in Indiana. For decades, the town has largely tolerated a fundamentalist "school" that abuses kids. Local public officials defend it. I even visited this town in 2009 just to participate in a protest against this "school."

Well, it looks like the GOP has found its new cause celebre. Kentucky's David Williams ran on this too. Look where it got him. Please, Republicans. Run on this issue. I dare you. This is the one major War on Drugs initiative that's gotten probably less public support than any other.

If everything holds up - which is shaky - yesterday's elections could be the worst for the Republicans since the '70s. Truth is, after the "values voter" jailbreak of 2004, they've had only one great year, and that was last year.

Why was 2010 so grand for the Evil Empire? Sure, it was the year of the Tea Party, but I warned you beforehand to keep an eye on those clowns. They're a joke, but a very dangerous joke. The forces of good lost in 2010 largely because we let the Tea Party and their friends in The Media define the debate.

I don't think that mistake was widely repeated this year. People have gotten their wind back.

Observers say 1994 was the first talk radio election. They call 2004 the first right-wing blog election. They say 2010 was the first Tea Party election. I think 2011 was the first Occupy election. If things continue at this rate, it will be the first of many.

Today, voters in Cincinnati were to elect 9 City Council members. Leslie Ghiz, Wayne Lippert, Chris Bortz, and Amy Murray - who were all incumbents - were the only 4 candidates out of the 22 on the ballot who were known to have actively tried to suppress Occupy Cincinnati.

All 4 lost.

And to think Cincinnati used to be the most conservative big city in America.

More electoral amusement fills the land today - as if we didn't have enough fun already!

A Republican takeover of the Iowa Senate was staved off in a stunning special election win for the Democrats. And in Arizona, Republican State Sen. Russell Pearce - a raw racist who wrote that state's unconstitutional immigration law - lost a recall election to a Republican presumed to be less crazy. (Only time will tell!)

Also, in another upset, a GOP takeover of the Virginia Senate was warded off - surprising everybody.

In Evansville, Indiana, the Tea Party endorsed Republicans for every office - except mayor, where they endorsed the Democrat.

In today's election, the Democrats won every office - except mayor, which was won by the Republican.

You sure know how to lose, teagaggers.

This is especially damning for the Tea Party, because the lone Democrat they endorsed built his entire campaign on making cold medicine available by prescription only. No wonder he lost. It also pretty much lays hulk to the Tea Party's claims of being for smaller government, doesn't it?

Today, Mississippi voters faced a patently absurd referendum that would have defined a fertilized egg as a person. The effect would have been to outlaw even many forms of birth control. The referendumb was clearly unconstitutional (which I'm sure I don't even need to tell you).

It isn't just the Midwest that's scorching the polls for us today! New Englanders are having some fun too!

Maine voters faced a referendum today to repeal a right-wing law designed to suppress voter turnout. This has turned out to be yet another landslide for the forces of good: The referendum is winning by a stunning 59% to 41%.

I had a gut feeling the Republicans were in for a looooong night tonight, but I sure didn't expect this!

Voters in Kentucky just handed the GOP its worst scorching in recent memory, as the Democrats just won 5 of 6 statewide offices by landslide margins. The only Republican win was Agriculture Commissioner, thanks to the Democrats' inexplicable choice to nominate an unusually weak candidate.

I can't speak for other states, but Kentucky is on fire tonight! Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear is winning reelection by a smashing 25% margin: Beshear has 57%; Republican David Williams trails with 32%; independent Gatewood Galbraith has 11%.

And to think it was only a few years ago that The Media anointed the Republicans as rulers-for-life. The fact that we can call the election by 8 PM ought to be a surefire indicator that the tide has turned.

Meanwhile, Italy's right-wing dictator Silvio Berlusconi has announced his resignation.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

After right-wing Cincinnati City Council members Leslie Ghiz, Wayne Lippert, Amy Murray, and Chris Bortz openly endorsed suppressing the Occupy Cincinnati protest, there were 3 consecutive nights of arrests.

But now Occupy Clifton has sprung up to serve the city's northern neighborhoods. They've set up camp in Burnet Woods.

And guess what happened last night? That's right, peeps. Cops reportedly arrested 2 participants in Occupy Clifton for daring to be in the public park. These arrests have yet to receive any media coverage that I know of.

This pattern is repeated all over America, as public officials actively suppress the Occupy movement. The elites are running scared, and I don't think there's any point in denying it. If they didn't genuinely feel that their sheltered world was at risk, they wouldn't be throwing us in jail and engaging in the dirty tricks they've done.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Yesterday outside the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., protesters from Occupy D.C. were run down by a silver Lexus or Mercedes. Three were injured.

One person was arrested. Unfortunately, it was not the driver of the luxury car, but a protester who yelled at the driver after the assault. The motorist was not arrested, even though they hit the protesters on purpose.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Daylight Saving Time is useless in these parts, considering we're already in the Eastern Time Zone despite being well to the west of Eastern Time's natural boundary. Look it up sometime: Cincinnati is 38 minutes off of Eastern Time's natural midpoint but only 22 minutes off of Central Time. So - for a majority of the year, when Daylight Wasting Time is in force - we're 98 minutes off from where we should be.

As you know, Daylight Wasting Time was extended in the mid-2000s by the Bush regime because the electric industry lobbied for it. It wastes more energy than it saves. If it saves us so much energy, why don't we have it in the months when we would seem to need it the most? Why do we have it in June but not December?

Daylight Saving Time might be a good thing for us (economically and otherwise) if we were moved into the Central Time Zone. But that hasn't happened, so we're (literally) singing the praises of returning to standard time for the winter...

Thursday, November 3, 2011

As massive as Occupy Cincinnati has become, I can't believe there isn't more coverage of what I consider to be one of the protest's pivotal moments so far.

I call it the Peppermint Incident, and I was part of it yesterday! A group of about 6 of us broke away from Piatt Park with the intent of protesting in front of right-wing City Council member Wayne Lippert's campaign office in Mount Auburn. Lippert is among several councilors who have actively tried to suppress Occupy Cincinnati.

We packed into a car and zipped on up there - only to discover that the address of Lippert's campaign office was actually his medical office at Christ Hospital. (Turns out he's a gynecologist.)

So we stroll into the waiting room carrying our signs. The receptionist immediately notices us, but she acts like she doesn't know whether the office doubles as a campaign office. Obviously, it must, since that's the address we had for it. Seems odd that Wayne Lippert would use a hospital as his campaign headquarters, but it appeared that's what he was doing.

You know how banks and doctor's offices sometimes have a bowl of complimentary peppermints? Well, a member of our group tried taking a mint. This angered the receptionist. She lectured us that we shouldn't be taking the free mints if all we were doing was protesting against Lippert. Then the receptionist told us to leave.

We skedaddled out the door of the office. Once we were out in the hallway, several security guards confronted us and told us to vamoose from the hosp altogether.

Why was this such a significant moment? The mere fact that we descended upon Lippert's office shows Occupy Cincinnati's resilience. That's the sort of display that gets public officials' attention. It illustrates yet again that we're not going away.

The Peppermint Incident will be forever remembered by all who were lucky enough to participate!

Not counting police riots like that in Oakland, this story is at least the third documented instance of politically motivated violence against the Occupy protests.

Last night, the driver of a Mercedes-Benz struck 2 participants in an Occupy Oakland march. According to a witness, the motorist intentionally ran down the protesters. Both victims had to be hospitalized.

And get this: Police let the driver go.

I get it now: People who camp overnight in public parks go to jail, but maniacs who deliberately run over protesters don't. All this accomplishes is to illustrate another reason why the Occupy movement simply had to happen. No wonder we get so much more public support than the Tea Party does.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

As a participant in Occupy rallies, I can assure you firsthand that we have ZERO tolerance for serious crime. I speak for every Occupier I know when I say that if we suspect criminal activity during our events, WE CALL THE POLICE. End of story.

Since most of these events nationwide are in public parks, crimes can and do occur - just as they always have occurred in public spaces. There's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Occupy protesters have committed these crimes. The few crimes that I know of at these events were perpetrated by people outside the movement who happened to be at the park. We don't tolerate it.

But Sinclair Broadcast Group lies about us. Sinclair's WBFF-TV in Baltimore put out a hit piece accusing us of assault, illicit drug use, robbery, and even rape. The piece also claimed that Occupiers have refused to get help for rape victims.

That's a lie. If we suspect rape, we WILL call the police. Immediately. I haven't heard ANY reports of rape at our local rally, but if I did, I would call the cops - and so would anybody else who suspects it.

WBFF's one-sided piece claims to have found drug paraphernalia at an Occupy Baltimore event. Despite what WBFF implies, no evidence suggests it belongs to the protesters.

In short, Sinclair's Baltimore station lied. They lied about the movement, they lied about anybody who participates in it, they lied about me, and they lied about you. This is personal. Now, Baltimore police say the rape reported on WBFF never occurred. Yet WBFF refuses to even run a correction.

Sinclair is the same right-wing syndicate that required all its stations to air a scurrilous "documentary" attacking John Kerry just before the 2004 "election."

Locally, Sinclair owns WSTR-TV (Channel 64) in Cincinnati. I think Occupy Cincinnati should stage a rally outside Channel 64's headquarters until the FCC revokes Sinclair's licenses. The WLBT case established that the FCC can revoke the licenses of broadcasters that intentionally distort news - and I assume that covers lying outright.

Just as Sinclair helped manipulate the 2004 "election" by broadcasting a dishonest hit piece against Kerry, it tries to stage-manage the public reaction to the Occupy protests by smearing all who participate.

Elections for governor and other statewide offices lurk next Tuesday, November 8! We're out of the endorsement business these days, largely because the Democrats have become such a colossal disappointment, but a few words are in order.

Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear is facing challenges from Republican State Sen. David Williams and independent Gatewood Galbraith. Williams of course is an automatic disaster, and he was even a key backer of the hated pseudoephedrine prescription bill. Galbraith used to be great, as he built a reputation as a forward-thinking populist with strong labor and civil liberties support. Now he's just miserable after abandoning his signature causes. I strongly supported Galbraith in years past, but I can no longer do so. He recently abandoned labor by endorsing making it illegal for public employees to go on strike. And now (despite gaining fame by opposing the failed War on Drugs) he's even begun supporting Williams's pseudoephedrine bill (after having initially opposed it). (No, I'm not making this up. He backed it in a KET debate just last night.)

I have no choice but to vote for Beshear next Tuesday. Beshear is hardly a household name outside Kentucky, thanks to his lack of controversy, but at least he has just enough of a populist streak that I could vote for him - however reluctantly.

In other statewide elections next week, it's slim pickins. I'm obviously not voting Republican in any of them, though both Attorney General candidates are so uninspiring and out of step with the office's aims that I'm withholding my vote altogether in that contest. It's a damn shame, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Coverage of electoral politics is what's made this blog as grand as it is, and I hope to have some laughs at the GOP's expense next Tuesday night.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Kenton County, Kentucky, may be the site of the first significant legal action against the Tea Party. (It's also where I famously heckled a Tea Party event.) After teagaggers were caught forging signatures in a ballot drive, the county attorney is now SUING the petition firm under the RICO laws!

The federal racketeering suit says AZ Petition Partners and its independent contractors trafficked in forged documents, and the county is seeking severe penalties. The county has already been forced to spend over $14,000 in legal fees because of the forgeries (some of which were of names copied from the phone book).

The suit also charges the petitioners with mail fraud, for contractors mailed the petitions. Criminal prosecutions are also in the works.

If you needed any more evidence of the degree of delusion harbored by the Tea Party thugs, you can now rest easy.

In Richmond, Virginia, city and state police broke up the Occupy Richmond rally. Yet the Richmond Tea Party claims the Occupy movement has received better treatment than them, and they're suing the city for $10,000.

Weird. I can't find ANY stories about cops dispersing a Tea Party event - in Richmond or anywhere. There have been hundreds of arrests of Occupy activists nationwide, but I don't know of ANY Tea Party busts, even though teabaggers have assaulted reporters and others and committed various other violations of the law. That's prima facie proof right there that the teagaggers have been receiving preferential treatment.

But Occupy Richmond refuses to be defeated. As in Cincinnati, they pop right back up after each bust. Good for them!

Friday, October 28, 2011

Much noise has been generated by the fascist right lately about how only 53% of Americans pay federal income taxes. What they don't tell you - but which everybody knows - is that it's the richest 53%. The other 47% doesn't have to pay it because they don't make enough money.

Simple as that. If the teagaggin' right wants us in the poorest 47% to pay it, they should fix the economy so we earn enough money to have to pay it. I don't know how I can possibly make it any more succinct than that.

Our lawmakers have more than enough consent from the governed for such a progressive tax system. Per person, who do you think has more representation in Congress - the poor or the rich? If "we, the people" didn't support a progressive income tax, we wouldn't have what we have now. If we have a progressive income tax despite the poor having too little representation, then certainly we'd have it if representation was fairer. Taxation with representation means the rich pay more because the poor are greater in number.

I have nothing to be ashamed of for trying to pull myself up from nothing. I went in for a job interview this week, so you can't possibly argue that I haven't tried.

As of now, at least 2 Occupy protests have been the target of major violence - not counting police riots like the one in Oakland that fractured a Marine's skull and put him in critical condition.

On Sunday, a rally in Portland, Maine, was hit by a bomb made from a Gatorade bottle. Now the Occupy Salem protest at Wilson Park in Salem, Oregon, has been bombed too. This occurred back on Tuesday, but The Media's failure to cover it means that folks outside Oregon are only now hearing about it.

In the Oregon incident, a bomb was thrown from a car into the park. If the bomb hadn't been built by utter idiots, it could have easily blown out a wall.

Meanwhile, there have been hundreds of arrests nationwide against Occupy protesters, but not a single arrest of anyone involved in the bombings. Yet the Tea Party whiners complain that the Occupy movement is receiving preferential treatment.

In fact, after the bomb was thrown in Oregon, police who investigated the bomb said no evidence of a bomb was found. Seriously, they said that.

Also, in nearby Portland, Oregon, an Occupy activist has been receiving death threats.

Monday, October 24, 2011

Hey, remember when you laughed at all the times I talked about how violent the lunatic right is?

But folks in Portland, Maine, are realizing it's no joke.

An Occupy Maine encampment was attacked yesterday by a bomb. The device consisted of a chemical mixture in a Gatorade bottle. It exploded under a table, lifting the table about a foot off the ground. Miraculously, no serious injuries were reported.

Friday, October 21, 2011

You may remember the commercial where a kid declares, "Wow! A Tony the Tiger art pen!" But when you watch our latest 'LCQ', you're gonna say, "Wow! A new computer!"

I just buyed a new computer. Apparently, viruses had begun digesting the old one I got 5 years ago, so that one was nearing the end of its useful life. I tried everything - and I mean everything - to clear it of viruses, but ultimately, it became too slow to use for normal duty.

I think most folks are getting a little tired of The Media telling them what to think - especially the Cincinnati Enquirer, one of the most right-wing and biased major newspapers in America.

Now they've introduced a poll asking whether The Media has given too much coverage to Occupy Cincinnati. You read that right. They actually want people to think Occupy Cincinnati has gotten too much coverage!

This is the same Enquirer that indulged the fascist Tea Party every time it came to town. In comparison, Occupy Cincinnati has received only minimal coverage.

But a one-paper town is a one-paper town, so they can get away with stage-managing public opinion like this.

We might not like confrontation, but it gets folks' attention. It angries up the bile. Gets the wheels turning.

If Brossart had never done anything worse than fining me $100, do you think I'd have ever started The Last Word? We do what we do as a response to confrontation. Serial harassers at school were about nothing but confrontation since day one. Confrontation has also been the modus operandi of the Republican Right in modern times. Just after midnight this morning, I witnessed yet more confrontation - courtesy of right-wing public officials who can't tolerate free speech.

After being sidelined by illness (possibly gallstones), I returned to Occupy Cincinnati at Piatt Park last night when city officials threatened to launch mass arrests of protesters just for the "crime" of protesting. For the past 2 weeks, police had been issuing citations, but the only arrest before last night was of a man who refused to sign one.

I did set foot in the forbidden zone of Piatt Park after hours last night, but that was quite a while before cops arrived. Most of us gathered across the street instead. City police appeared around midnight, followed by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department with their mass arrest bus. (They unleashed a bus like this during the protest against the economic summit back in 2000.) They promptly arrested 23 people for daring to participate in Occupy Cincinnati.

The arrests came following pressure by right-wing City Council members Leslie Ghiz, Wayne Lippert, and Amy Murray. This trio would like living in Red China better, obviously. Over there, they don't have that pesky First Amendment thing to deal with.

I am calling for Ghiz, Lippert, and Murray to be impeached immediately. In America, you obey the Constitution. End of story.

The 23 demonstrators were charged with trespassing - even though Piatt Park is a public space. (Shades of the NKU incident?)

But there were folks out all night protesting. We bipped over to the Hamilton County Justice Center with our signs, and it went from there. And Occupy Cincinnati is continuing nonstop! Because that's what we do, you see. We will stand firm until we accomplish our goal of limiting corporate power and expanding people power.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Somebody suggested I do a tribute to Steve Jobs for my next 'LCQ'. So this 'LCQ' talks about how his beautiful computers liked to tout their own hardiness even after enduring a marathon abuse session from middle school kids...

+ The War on Drugs continues to be completely discredited: Former NYPD Detective Stephen Anderson now admits that the NYPD fabricated drug charges against innocent people and ruined their lives just to meet arrest quotas. Anderson was testifying in court after being nabbed for planting cocaine on 4 men.

+ In other drug warrior news, Florida's new program of requiring welfare recipients to take a drug test has also turned out to be a fraud. At first, only 2% had failed the test. But now that several thousand people have been tested, less than 0.5% have failed. That's less than 1 in 200. That's right, folks: 1 in 200. I GUARANTEE you more than 0.5% of Wall Street is abusing drugs, yet nobody makes them take a drug test.

A corporation that owns an apartment complex in Canton, Mississippi, is trying to evict dozens of residents because they filmed a rap video out in front of the building.

Needless to say, the building owner has no legal leg to stand on. I shouldn't even have to tell you this. Although the complex is private property, the court system cannot be a party to squelching free expression by allowing the residents to be evicted. The bounds of what the law allows are reasonably clear here.

Still - although Occupy Wall Street is making inroads - I can't guarantee justice will prevail in this case. The corporate rootkit that aggravates economic and social injustice is entrenched. The American people are broke largely because we allow too many bailouts and tax breaks for Big Business.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Since Occupy Cincinnati shows no signs of letting up anytime soon, allow me to bring the latest info to those of you who are still unfamiliar with what we stand for...

The Cincinnati protest is now on day 3 of continuous activity, though now it's gravitated to Piatt Park downtown. Over 20 participants have now been given misdemeanor citations for being in a city park after hours.

This underscores another important point: Why can't the public use a space (regardless of what time of day it is) that they paid for with their tax dollars? We've all seen signs at public parks warning about how the park closes at a certain time each night, but do you know why these rules were established? They were established as a battering ram to use against people who the authorities simply didn't like. In other words, these ordinances were written just to be selectively enforced.

The citations given to Occupy Cincinnati peeps carry a fine of $105 each. After issuing the tickets, police reportedly simply left and wished the protesters well. But on the other hand, do you honestly think the Tea Party would be ticketed at all for being in a public place after hours?

It's also important to note that the Occupy protests aren't limited to just big cities. Now they're cropping up in tiny towns like Hartford, Kentucky; Floyd, Virginia; and Winston, Missouri. This list reads almost like Casey Kasem listing the affiliates of his show.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Cincinnati saw its first protest based on Occupy Wall Street yesterday, and it was an amazing sight!

I got back from my Big Bend trip last night, and I was able to get down to the Occupy Cincinnati protest on Fountain Square at about 10 PM. There were still about 500 people there, and I heard there were about 4,000 earlier in the day - likely dwarfing any local Tea Party event.

All you've heard lately about Fountain Square is that 3CDC owns the place, so get with the program. In reality, however, Fountain Square is publicly owned. It wasn't until the 2000s that 3CDC was created to mismanage it. Nonetheless, authorities warned beforehand that if any Occupy Cincinnati participants remained on the Square after 1 AM today, they WILL be arrested.

Unfortunately, I became deathly ill at about 1 AM and had to go to Christ Hospital. In all likelihood, I was suffering from gallstones, according to the nurse at the hosp. But here's the best part of the story: About 10 or 20 people remained on Fountain Square all night in defiance of the 3CDC-inspired Allowed Cloud. Although police repeatedly lectured them in an attempt to convince them to leave, not a single arrest was made.

Long story short: Occupy Cincinnati wins. It's dawned on city leaders and local corporate powers that the world is watching, and they weren't about to lay themselves wide open for any more criticism. There reportedly was some whining from a nearby corporation that feared the rally was scaring its privileged clientele, but nothing became of it.

Locally, the Establishment is starting to learn we mean business. For 30 years, Americans have stood idly by while being economically ruined and watching basic civil liberties be mortgaged at a daily clip. But no more. We're fighting back at long last, and it's working. If the actions of the past couple weeks can be sustained, I think America for the foreseeable future will be very, very different from that of the awful decades of decay we experienced.

As Gandhi once said: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Thursday, September 29, 2011

I told you that if the Republicans rigged the 2010 election, our side was going to come down very hard - when the Evil Empire least expected it. Now it's happening! It's called Occupy Wall Street.

The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have spread outside New York and into countless other cities - big and small, American as well as foreign. Towns as small as Stillwater, Oklahoma, are seeing their own homegrown brand of this movement.

The New York event has been met with police brutality, but organizers plan to keep protesting there for as long as it takes until right-wing tyranny is cleaned up. Events in other cities also need to stay open. I'm all for a Cincinnati protest, but we need to find a place somewhere in the area where we can keep the protest going for months or years on end if we have to.

These rallies should have begun the day after the election - in 1980! But we're pleased as poo to take what we can get. I've been dreaming of a protest like this for years, and it's ABOUT DAMN TIME!

According to the Occupy Cincinnati Gathering page on Facebook, a Cincinnati event is planned for Saturday, October 8 from 11 AM to 11:30 PM at Sawyer Point. I'll be out of town that day, but that's alright, because I trust this rally is just the beginning of a very, very turbulent era.

His cries to the contrary notwithstanding, GOP presidential frontrunner Rick Perry doesn't give a shit about the Tenth Amendment - or the Constitution overall.

"You either have to believe in the Tenth Amendment or you don't," Perry has been quoted as saying. "You can't believe in the Tenth Amendment for a few issues and then [for] something that doesn't suit you say, 'We'd rather not have states decide that.'" But guess what? He's doing exactly that!

So-called "right-to-work" laws are unconstitutional even without the Tenth Amendment argument. Many states have these union-busting laws, and they're unconstitutional because they violate individual rights - particularly freedom of assembly. What I'd like to see is a national free-bargaining law that strengthens individual rights by eradicating work-for-less laws.

Perry also backs the right-wing Federal Marriage Act, which would bar states from legalizing gay marriage.

Rick Perry and the rest of the Republican establishment are not about the Constitution or personal liberty. At all. The modern GOP is a fraud.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

This clown proved last night he's as worthless as ever (even when he isn't crying about his toilet not working).

After a hard-fought battle, the Senate staved off a government shutdown by approving a must-pass funding bill by a vote of 79 to 12. Guess who was among the 12 to oppose this must-pass bill?

That's right, folks. Rand Paul.

How did Kentucky end up with a senator who doesn't have a Kentucky agenda? By opposing this bill, he voted against the interests and desires of the state's people. There's absolutely no excuse whatsoever - none - for opposing the bill after the Democrats found a way to conserve FEMA spending.

Three days ago, who woulda thunk we'd not only see funding for both FEMA and an endangered green jobs program but also avert a government shutdown? It sure as shit looked like we'd get funding for neither - plus the shutdown.

But a funny thing happened. Not ha-ha funny but unusual funny. Senate Democrats stood their ground against the Tea Party-plagued House. For once, there was no DLC garbage. And guess what? The Democrats won the battle last night, and the looming shutdown was averted.

They fought - and then they won. Isn't it weird how fighting back brings better results than wussing around?

There's a lesson to be learned in all this. Being right isn't always enough - because sometimes you have to fight for it. There's no point in being right if you don't fight for it.

As you know, "Pumped Up Kicks" is the song 'Lawn Chair Quarterback' mentioned a few weeks ago because it was the only song in the top 10 that week that sported vinyl-friendly production. But it's been blackballed by Clear Channel's WJJS-FM in Roanoke, Virginia, over its subject matter.

Probably at least 7 or 8 songs in the current top 10 are thoroughly unlistenable, but I bet WJJS plays them without any trouble. Yet they won't play the one song in the top 10 that's more popular than all the others.

No wonder K-92 is kicking the shit out of WJJS in the ratings. This reminds me of the late '80s when out-of-town stations encroached on the Cincinnati stations' listenership because lyrical censorship was so rampant in the 'Nati.

The Clear Channel stuffed shirt who made the decision to ban the Foster The People song also renamed one of Clear Channel's other Roanoke stations for himself. No, I'm not making this up.

Crap Channel puts on a facade of hip but tries to decide for everybody else what they should be allowed to hear.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

In the past few days, 4 live pipe bombs have been discovered in rural Campbell County - particularly in the Licking Pike area. The most recent was found in a mailbox yesterday.

Who's the asshole behind this? Probably the same sort of neo-Nazi thug who set my trash can on fire back when I lived in Highland Heights. You can bet your bottom dollar it's the same club of spoiled lunatics. I've lived in this county for 38 years, and I know the hard way what it's capable of.

If you suspect a pipe bomb in this county, call 911 instantly. If that fails, call the Campbell County dispatch center at (859)292-3622. Or call the Campbell County Police at (859)547-3100 or the U.S. Postal Inspector's office at 1-877-876-2455.

Simon Leis Jr. is the longtime sheriff and a former prosecutor and judge in Cincinnati's Hamilton County. The 77-year-old Republican is like the Joe Arpaio of Cincinnati. But now he's retiring at long last.

Leis crusaded for years against porn - but eventually, the local citizenry stopped giving a shit about what folks were reading in the privacy of their homes. After attitudes started changing, he seemed just pathetic. About all he did after that was demand a sales tax increase to pay for a new jail nobody wanted. (The tax hike never passed.)

But in 1995, when Leis was at the top of his game, he assembled a task force to raid computer bulletin board systems, accusing them of distributing pornography. Leis even sent his task force across the state line into Kentucky, which was outside their jurisdiction. Countless computers were illegally seized by the task force. These computers contained private e-mails of the users of these BBS's. One BBS operator's tax records were seized too.

It turned out that one of the cops on the task force ran a BBS that offered premium services that competed against one of the BBS's that was raided. But nobody was allowed to say so publicly. My life was ruined when I pointed this out.

Local BBS's never recovered from this set of raids. For several years after, there was a bunker mentality, and most area BBS's winked out of sight. Those were awful, awful years.

BBS operators and users sued the sheriff's department over the seized computers and lost e-mails. But years later, I saw a tiny article in the local blab that said the court had - for some fatuous reason - ruled in favor of the despotic sheriff. So the victims of these roguish raids never got their computers or e-mails back. Ever. To this day, Simon Leis is probably still pounding out warrants with the Chicago font using one of the confiscated machines.

To add injury to insult, Leis's task force did absolutely zippo about the wave of Internet harassment I encountered sometime after the raids. Somebody should have gone to prison for a good long time over that garbage. If I supported the death penalty, I would have absolutely favored it for the type of harassment I experienced. But instead...nothing.

The Leis era has been a living example of conservatism's warped mores. They try policing private conduct, but at other times, it's always about "me, me, me."

Meet Andrew Malcolm, a far-right commentator at the already right-wing Los Angeles Times. We've profiled him before because of his inability to grasp basic truisms. Now he's at it again.

President Obama appeared at the I-75 bridge in Cincinnati yesterday to speak in favor of his popular American Jobs Act. Contrary to what Andrew Malcolm claimed in a column yesterday, this bridge qualifies under this bill. What's amazing though is how Malcolm lies in plain sight, thinking no Cincinnati area folks will stumble upon his bullshit to debunk it.

He said of the span, "It's the Brent Spence Bridge. It doesn't really need repairs." It doesn't? Lots of Tri-Staters would get a good laugh out of that statement! Except it wouldn't be so funny if it collapsed because Congress won't fund repairs or the proposed replacement bridge.

Malcolm went on to say, "The bridge was built to handle 85,000 cars and trucks a day, which seemed like a lot back during construction in the Nixon era." Except it was constructed in the Kennedy era, dipshit. That's why it needs replacing now. I suspect Malcolm knows this. He makes it sound like the bridge is brand new, even though it was built before Riverfront Stadium was, which has been gone for years now because sports team owners demanded the taxpayers buy them new stadiums. The Republicans were all for a sales tax hike to pay for Riverfront's replacements, but they won't support a bill that replaces a much older bridge - even though this bill is already paid for.

The right-wing intelligentsia has honed lying into an art form. Their lies rule The Media so thoroughly that it's not even news to us anymore. But when they lie so blatantly about something of such urgent interest locally, they will be called out on it for as long as I can catch them.

My Starving Writer Fund

This blog is my main source of income. Please help keep food on the table for a writer who's had your back since 1993.

Resume

The blog ad industry has blackballed me and all of my websites because of my political views, so I can no longer support this site through ads. Accordingly, I have posted my resume for prospective employers to view.